Original Hybrid Mattress

honestly the mattress firmness thing is a complete mess across brands, you're right about that. what feels medium at one place is gonna be way different somewhere else. for side sleeping in LA without AC those first few months, I'd skip most memory foam honestly, it sleeps hot as hell especially in summer here. look at hybrid mattresses instead, they've got coil systems that actually let air move through so you're not waking up drenched at 3am when it's still 75 degrees in your apartment. if you want specific names, tuft & needle hybrid or Brooklyn bedding signature hybrid both run cooler and work well for side sleepers without breaking your back on price. both are actually medium-soft where it counts (not firm pretending to be medium like some brands do). costco also has decent options if you've got a membership, their return policy is stupid easy if you hate it after a few weeks. whatever you do, make sure there's a solid return window because you won't really know if it works for you until you've slept on it for at least a week or two.

Hi Derek, appreciate you doing this. my wife is a side sleeper, 125 pounds. we have a nice talalay latex topper of 2 inches that we got a few years ago to soften the previous mattress (which was a Sealy latex one from years ago) so now she tried using the tuft and needle from costco with it, but it was too cushy. was thinking if something durable and not too soft, (as the 2 inch topper rated soft ILD - will soften it somewhat) price is also a factor. any ideas ? we’d like to take advantage of the topper we already have , thanks

I've had a Tuft & Needle Cali King hold up quite nicely! Coming up on 10 years, so I'll be in the market soon.

We’ve had a king size Leesa (Classic, I think) for seven years and it’s maybe the best mattress I’ve ever had. I think we paid $1200. We also have a king Tuft and Needle from Amazon for about $600. It’s been good, albeit on the firm side so we put a 2” gel pad and it’s really nice. We have had mattresses from Puffy (not bad) and IKEA (way too firm). All of these are bed-in-a-box type mattresses.

I second Tuft & Needle. Although a lot of the cost of the mattresses you buy is for the cover. The next time I need a mattress, I think I would look for just foam with the right density (uncovered), and then find a cover for it myself.

Get a solid wood or steel platform frame and spend your money on a good midrange mattress (Costco, Sleep On Latex, Purple, Casper, Tuft & Needle) and a latex mattress topper if needed. I would estimate $200 frame, $500-$1000 mattress, $150 topper.

tuft and needle is fine for the price but nothing special